Alone
by lishthefish
Summary: Isabella Swan is a vampire when she meets the young Cullens.  She saves them and leaves, only to return years later.  There, she meets the teenage Cullens.  Will they remember the beauty that rescued them 9 years earlier?
1. Hero

**Disclaimer: I do not own _Twilight_, nor do I own any of it's characters. It all belongs to Stephenie Meyer.**

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**Alone**

**Chapter 1: Hero**

"_I need a hero to save me now_

_I need a hero (save me now)_

_I need a hero to save my life_

_A hero will save me (just in time)_"

_Hero_ by Skillet

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_August 16, 1997_

Isabella Swan passed through the dark streets of Seattle, Washington, graceful and silent. The only light around was that shining from the moon and the street lamps that had moths and other small insects buzzing around them. There was no one in sight, aside from Isabella herself. Not many humans would be walking around anywhere at such a late hour; it was, after all, just passed 3AM.

But Isabella was no mere human.

Isabella was an inhumanly beautiful, graceful, strong and fast creature with enhanced senses; her eyesight, hearing and sense of smell all beyond that of a human. Beautiful and deadly in a way that no humans could possibly comprehend unless given the truth.

Isabella was a vampire.

She had been born in Rome, Italy in the year 1812 to Charles and Renée Swan. Her life was nothing too spectacular, nothing out of the norm. However, one day only a short couple of months after her seventeenth birthday, Isabella's life turned upside down.

She had been out with her best friend Alessia, simply enjoying life and what nature had to offer. Rome had always been a beautiful place and she absolutely loved living there. She returned home to find that her parents had both been brutally murdered by a creature with piercing red eyes. It should have frightened her when his beady eyes connected with hers. Isabella should have screamed when she saw the blood running down the pale neck of her parents' murderer. But Isabella had never been a normal human. Things that should frighten her, didn't. The one thing that she could not possibly handle was blood. The smell — a mixture of rust and salt — made her nauseous. Between the revolting scent of blood and her uncanny clumsiness, she was the biggest danger to herself. When the exquisitely beautiful man with red eyes saw her, he smiled. Oddly, though, it was not a sadistic, cruel smile as she would have expected. Rather, it was an apologetic smile. For the murder of her parents, or for what he was about to do, she would never know. The man was in front of her in a flash, his short curly red hair flying around his head.

_"I'm sorry," he murmured in his melodic voice. Without any further warning, the striking man grasped Isabella by the neck and leaned in. He inhaled and sunk his dangerously sharp teeth into the soft flesh of Isabella's neck. Isabella didn't scream. She didn't even try to. For she somehow knew that it would not benefit her in any way._

_The man released her and leaned into her ear, whispering, "you will be a vampire," and then he was gone. Never to be seen or heard from again._

As Isabella passed by a building, an unexpected tug inside of her made her come to a sudden halt. She whipped her head in the direction of the pull, her long, dark hair flowing softly around her in the light breeze. She took a hesitant step toward the pull. She had expected it to possibly grow a little bit stronger. What she didn't expect was for the tug to nearly heave her to the ground with it's newly heightened strength. She hadn't even realized that she was already running toward the tug until she saw a light fly by her at an inhuman speed. She felt the want, the _need_ to follow the pull.

Isabella had had feelings like this before. They were the thing that kept her protected from any danger lurking around. She had helped other vampires, who became her friends, through her feelings. It was how she met two of her closest friends, a pair of young mated vampires named Max and Azria, who she had not seen in years. Isabella often got these feelings, but only when something that would in some way effect her, was occurring. The majority of the time, it meant that she must run or go to someones rescue, if not run away from what her sixth sense somehow knew meant danger to her.

She pushed herself further, allowing her speed to increase as the pull grew stronger and stronger, leading her in the direction of it. What it was, she did not know. She only knew through this tug, this pull, this feeling, that she _needed_ to follow it.

As she grew closer to her unknown destination, the pull continued to grow stronger until she could hardly bare it. She pushed herself even further, to her fullest extent. She was the fastest of all the vampires she had ever met and that was definitely saying something, since some of them were _extremely_ fast, even by vampire standards. But to push herself this far...that must have truly meant something considering she had never in her long, immortal lifetime gone as fast as she was at this moment.

Her inhumanly sharp topaz eyes caught silhouettes in the distance. She could tell, even from the miles away that she was, that they were men. With her outstanding eyesight, she could see that there were four men, probably in their late twenties, perhaps early thirties judging by their builds and heights, even the way they stood tall, rather than slightly haunched. Her eyes could pick up that the four men were in a semi-circle, seeming to be blocking something from leaving, as there was a wall behind whatever the four men were standing in front of.

As she came closer, she saw that there were five small children standing against a brick wall, shivering and looking beyond frightened. There were two little girls and three boys. The girls were both absolutely adorable. One was teeny — both skinny and short compared to the others — with shoulder length black hair and scared dark grey eyes. The other was taller, though not by very much, perhaps a few inches. She had blonde hair that was also a few inches longer than the other girls'. Her eyes were a violet-blue and reflected the same fear that the smaller girls' eyes held. Out of the boys, the biggest one, who was also the tallest out of all five of them, had dark brown hair that looked as if it could use a hair cut and was not fat, though had a larger build. His hazel brown eyes looked protective for such a young boy. Another boy was a little bit shorter with blond hair and icy blue eyes that kept subtly glancing at the girls in an empathetic manner, as if he could not only feel his own fear, but also theirs. The final one had strange coloured hair. It wasn't red, but it wasn't brown. It was a mixture of both, with gold mixed in as well. Bronze, Isabella thought to herself. His emerald green eyes glared at the four men.

The two girls were huddled together, standing a little bit behind the three boys. It was obvious that not even all five of the children could take on one of the men, let alone all four. After all, the children could not have been more than eight-years-old.

Isabella flew like a bullet from a gun, though she was much faster. She was almost to them when she suddenly leaned forward onto her toes and launched herself into the air, flying high. She did a small flip in the air and landed silently in a crouch position, in between both groups. Her back was facing the children and her lips curled into a snarl as she faced the four men. Even the children, who had been facing the direction that she had ran from, wouldn't have been able to spot her before she landed in front of them. She only wore black clothing. A tight fitting black turtle-neck sweater, along with black yoga pants, which were skinny and did not flare at the bottoms, and black heeled, knee-high boots.

Shock was the obvious, dominant emotion on the men's face. As soon as they snapped out of it though, they smiled cruelly in a sick way. Isabella could tell by the look in their eyes that they had lustful feelings toward her. As if she would ever be with any of these disgusting men. Not to mention that she was a vampire and they were humans. She could kill them with her pinky finger. These men were too overcome with the sudden lust they felt toward such an exquisite creature that they had completely ignored her obvious animalistic look, her sudden appearance and silent landing, her crouched position, even her onyx eyes.

Isabella knew what the men were seeing as they gazed at her lustfully. Her waist-length dark chocolate hair with perfect loose curls near the bottom. Her frightening and angry dark onyx eyes that were framed with beautiful long, thick black lashes and her skin...the palest of whites; seemingly silver in the moonlight, stretching over her thin, five foot seven, perfectly curved body. She was quite aware that she was outrageously alluring. She was strikingly beautiful, stunningly gorgeous — even by vampire standards. So to humans, who did not see marvelous people — vampires — like her everyday, she was all the more astounding.

"Well, well, hello there, sugar," one of the men slurred drunkenly, his grotesque breath blowing into Isabella's face. Her nose automatically scrunched up as the unappetizing scent of alcohol wafted toward her.

Isabella hissed in response.

"Oh, I like 'em feisty," another of the men said, eyeing Isabella up and down as if she were a piece of meat that he were to eat for dinner. She internally laughed. If anyone would be eating anyone here, it would be she who would sink her sharp teeth into their delicate flesh and suck all of the red, flowing liquid from their pathetically weak bodies.

Isabella felt a growl build deep in her chest.

"Leave," Isabella's sweet, sultry and captivating voice commanded. It was deep, though not in a manly way, rather in a completely seductive manner. Whether or not she wished for it to sound like that, it would. It sounded as if she were singing. Her voice rang and shimmered like a bell. It was also laced with the Italian accent that she had been born with, though it wasn't nearly as prominent as it had been years before. It had faded with time.

The men obviously did not take her seriously, for they kept their ground.

Another one of the men, one who had not yet spoken, snickered. "What are you going to do about us, little girl?"

Isabella may have looked only seventeen, but she knew that she was much older than that. She could combine the ages of all the men in front of her, plus the children behind her, and she would still be older by years. She was one hundred and eighty-four years old, but they didn't know that.

She felt as a dangerous smirk made its way onto her full, pouty red lips. She did not give the four despicable men another chance. It had been hard enough for her to contain herself to even give them the few moments she did when she told them to leave. It was their own stupidity that would be the cause of their death. Isabella lunged toward the first man, the one closest to her. He was the one that had called her 'sugar'. Isabella did not appreciate pet names. Let alone ones from such horrendous _humans_. She quickly snapped his neck.

If Isabella had been sadistic enough, she would have bit each of the men and let them wither and squirm in agonizing, fiery pain for three days. But then they would become vampires. They would be free to kill as many humans as they pleased, simply to satisfy their own thirst. They would likely prey on small children, just as they were doing now. The worst part, Isabella thought, was that they would have an eternity to do so.

Instead, though, Isabella grabbed the third man, having killed the second by also snapping his neck after breaking both of his arms. She knocked him to the ground, stepping on his fragile leg, with hardly any pressure. She was sickeningly satisfied when the distinct snap of his femur breaking in half echoed in the alley that they occupied. The final man, the one who had not spoken even one word, was the one that she wanted to torture. Maybe it would seem odd that she would want to kill the silent one in the most ruthless way. But Isabella saw the way that he was lustfully gazing at the girls. He had looked at Isabella that way for a moment when she first landed by them, but then his eyes moved back toward the two small girls that were hiding behind the boys and his eyes filled with a filthy desire. She knew what that meant. He was a rapist. But not just any rapist. A rapist whose main victims were defenseless, innocent young girls. Ones who most likely didn't even know what sex or rape was. There was absolutely no way that Isabella was going to let him get away with a simple flick of her wrist, snapping his neck.

She went to the fourth and final man and she wrapped her pale, thin fingers around his throat, lifting him off the ground with ease. She curled her other hand into a fist and brought it forward, successfully crushing his manhood and pelvis with one blow. A punch that wouldn't so much as damage Isabella, let alone break her bones. Hers weren't made like a humans anymore. They had been strengthened beyond belief during her transformation as the venom took over her body. Isabella then uncurled her fist and, using her extraordinarily sharp finger nails, she easily sliced into the man's skin all along his left arm, followed by his right. Finally, when Isabella could no longer look at the poor excuse for a man — a human being — in front of her, she used her nail to cut deeply into his artery. As his blood gushed out, she dropped his broken body to the cold, hard ground, smiling when she heard his cry of pain.

A moment later, there were only five heartbeats in the alley.

Isabella turned to face the five scared, small children for the first time.

Their small faces held emotions of shock, fear, and awe as they gazed at Isabella. They didn't even look at the four dead bodies behind her, for they were far too entranced by her astounding beauty.

She took a hesitant, graceful step toward them. Her lips curved into a soft smile, not showing her teeth, as she felt her eyes go from the angry onyx they were, to a softer, less frightening shade of ocher.

The children did not even attempt to step back, though it would have been impossible as there was a brick wall behind them.

"Hello," she greeted kindly, her smile still in place. She was only about two steps away from them now.

"Hi," a timid voice replied to her. Her sharp eyes swiftly darted to where the voice came from. It was the smallest one. The little girl with the black hair.

Isabella knelt down in front of her. "What is your name?"

"Mommy says not to talk to strangers."

Isabella gave a soft chuckle. "What were you doing out here, then?"

The little girl frowned. "Mommy and daddy took us camping, but when they were sleeping the scary men came and took us from our tent and brought us here...then you came."

"Oh my, I bet your mother and father are sick with worry right now. May I please know your name, sweetling?"

The small girl hesitantly said, "Mary-Alice, but everyone calls me Mary. I hate it."

"May I call you Alice, then?" Isabella asked sweetly.

Mary-Alice's eyes lit up as she nodded excitedly. "Yes! I would much rather be called Alice."

"Okay, Alice. Would you allow me to know the names of your friends?"

Alice glanced at her friends. They seemed fine with it, so Alice spoke. "This is Rosalie, Emmett, Jasper and Edward."

"Ah, such fitting names. Beautiful people like you have beautiful names," Isabella spoke lovingly.

"You're pretty," said Rosalie quietly.

Isabella looked at her. "You're very beautiful yourself, little Rose." She smiled. "Would you and your friends allow me to escort you back to your parents?"

Rosalie smiled carefully at Isabella as she nodded her head. "Okay."

"What's your name?" the blond boy, Jasper, asked.

Isabella thought for a millisecond before replying. "Marie."

She could not possibly reveal her true identity, for it would surely bring great danger to her. The humans may not be able to do anything to harm her, but other vampires, some members of the Volturi for example, would be ecstatic to tear her head off of her body. Besides, it wasn't as if she was completely lying to these small children, as her middle name was truly Marie.

The biggest one, Emmett, grinned showing off dimples that Isabella immediately adored. "Wait until mom and dad hear about this!"

Isabella's eyes widened for a moment. "Sweetie, you cannot tell anybody about this. Nothing about what happened tonight may be revealed to others. Please, it must stay between the five of you and me. No one else can know, or else it would bring danger to not only me, but yourselves as well."

"But what are we supposed to tell mommy and daddy, then?" Alice asked, her big, innocent grey eyes filling with tears.

Isabella sighed. "You may speak of what happened, but you mustn't tell a soul of what I looked like. If you wish to speak the truth, then please, edit it a little. I did not have long dark hair; it was shoulder-length, straight, sleek blonde. I wore a flowing white dress; not all skin-tight black attire. My eyes were not black, nor were they golden; rather a light, clear blue."

"Are you an angel?" asked the boy who had not yet spoken up. Edward, his name was.

Isabella laughed lightly. "I'm far from it, sweetling."

Alice suddenly gasped. "You are an angel, aren't you?"

"No, I'm afraid I am not, my darling."

"Oh," she frowned. "Can we tell mommy and daddy that you had wings, too?"

Isabella smiled. "Of course. What did my wings look like?"

"They were long and curved and white."

"That is perfect, Alice," Isabella said. "Now we must go."

Quickly, though without using inhuman speed, Isabella pulled each of the children into her arms. Alice and Rosalie were cradled closest to her, one on each arm, with Edward and Jasper beside them, too. Emmett was riding on her back. It was an awkward position, but Isabella could easily pull it off with her strength. It was as it she were carrying nothing but a mere feather.

"Please hold on as tight as you possibly can. I will be going at a very fast speed," warned Isabella.

"As fast as you were before?" Edward asked.

"No, not quite," she chuckled. "Though you may still want to shut your eyes."

All five of them obliged and Isabella took off at a speed that, although was not nearly as fast as she could go, was much faster than a human.

The woods were only a few minutes from the spot that the men had brought the children to, though for her it was only a few short seconds, and she soon picked up the children's scent. She followed it almost to their campsite, when she stopped. All around there were police, detectives, and people hustling about. Isabella saw two people who looked to be only in their early twenties, frantically looking around. One was a man with golden blond hair and sapphire blue eyes, the other was a woman with caramel-auburn waves framing her motherly face and hazel brown eyes. She knew instantly that they would be the children's parents.

She spoke quietly, "You may open your eyes now."

After a few moments, all of the children's eyes were open.

"Speak quietly, please," Isabella said politely. "Your parents are just through those trees and they cannot hear us. Please be very careful next time you go camping and scream as loud as you can if you see strange men — or women — trying to take you somewhere, okay?"

The children nodded obediently, and Alice said, "Okay, Marie."

"Now, remember what I said: you cannot reveal the truth, only bits and pieces of it."

"We know," said Emmett, mocking exasperation. "Blonde hair, blue eyes, white dress and wings..."

He is terribly sarcastic for someone of such a young age, Isabella thought to herself.

Isabella grinned. "Exactly."

Alice hugged Isabella's leg. "Thank you, Marie."

At this, all of the children, except for Edward, gathered around Isabella in a group hug. After she let them go, she turned to Edward.

"No hug?" Isabella asked, feigning hurt and sadness, though she actually did feel slightly hurt.

Edward smiled and walked to her. "I wanted to hug you myself," he said as he lifted his arms for a hug. Isabella crouched down and wrapped her own arms around his small body. "Thank you, Marie, for saving us and bringing us back. You really are an angel."

She chuckled again. "No, I really am not, but thank you for saying I am. It makes me feel better about my existence...about myself." She let go of the small boy, but remained crouched. "Now you five must go, and never speak of the truth."

The children smiled at her gratefully as they waltzed through the trees, toward their parents. Edward stayed behind a moment. He looked around quickly, nervously, then dashed up to Isabella and planted his lips on her cheek. She knew he was blushing just by the scent of his blood growing for prominent. She turned to him and returned the peck on the cheek, causing him to blush even more.

"Now get going, Edward."

And with that, Edward followed the others through the trees and back to his family.

Isabella watched and listened as their parents, who she had heard were called Carlisle and Esme, rejoiced and cried as they hugged their children. She turned around and faced away from them. With one last glance behind her, she took off running away from the town she was in, and back to Seattle. She would go and live in Canada for a few years, possibly even reconnect with Max and Azria before she moved on again.

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**A/N: Just so you know, Max and Azria...yeah, I took those names from the name of a company. It's called Max Azria (or is it Maxazria?). I don't know why, but when I was writing this, it just popped into my head and I'm like "sure, why not?" so I used it as two names. Anyways, hope you enjoyed the first chapter of the story...I can't actually say when I'll update, because my life gets really hectic, especially with Christmas only a couple days away, then not long after are exams, so I'll be studying for those a lot. And I know that I had the kids use more formal language, but I don't know... I can't really picture them speaking any other way. Like in some stories that I've read, they have the Cullen kids cursing a lot, and I dunno, it just really doesn't suit it to me. Eh, so be it.**

**I'd also like to add that the title of this story "Alone" has...well, absolutely nothing to do with the story itself. I couldn't for the life of me think of an accurate title, and I was listening to my iPod when a song called _Alone_ came on and I'm just like "good enough." Also, the songs that I'm using for the chapters (like for this one I used Skillet's "_Hero_") are mostly going to be completely randomly picked songs that likely have nada to do with the chapters...yeah, 'cause I'm cool like that.**

**One more thing; I would absolutely adore you if you were to give me some suggestions as to where I should take this story. What should happen? How should it happen? Just give me any sorts of ideas or suggestions that you can and I will love you forever.**

**Merry (almost) Christmas to all!**

**Please read and review!**


	2. Beautiful Liar

**Disclaimer: I do not own _Twilight_, nor do I own any of it's characters. It all belongs to Stephenie Meyer.**

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**Alone**

**Chapter 2: Beautiful Liar**

"_(Ay) Let's not kill the karma_

_(Ay) Let's not start a fight_

_(Ay) It's not worth the drama_

_For a beautiful liar_"

_Beautiful Liar_ by Shakira & Beyoncé

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_January 17, 2006_

"Please come back and visit us soon," Azria said.

"Of course I will, Azria," Isabella mumbled as she hugged her closest friend goodbye.

"Good," she replied, pulling away from the hug. She and Isabella shared a sad smile. They would miss each other greatly; the only female companion that Azria had was Isabella. But Azria also had her mate Max. Isabella only had herself to be with at all times for she had no mate.

As Isabella gazed into the piercing red eyes of her best friend, a sigh escaped her lips. She wished that her friends wouldn't use humans, though it was the natural way for vampires, as the way to quench their thirst.

Isabella had a conscience unlike most other vampires. She could not handle the guilt of murdering a helpless human. She didn't feel that much better when she had to kill animals to satisfy her raging thirst, but she knew it was a little bit better to do than killing humans. Isabella had never, in her one hundred and ninety-three year long life, killed a human being by drinking their blood. Her hands were not completely clean, though, as she had killed thousands of animals, four humans, as well as her fair share of vampires. But she had never been the cause of that. It wasn't her fault that other human-drinking vampires usually thought of Isabella as a threat and a menace to their race. Most were disgusted by her for going against her nature and choosing to drink from animals, rather than humans. She was proud of herself for being able to resist the temptation of human blood. She had been going against it for so long now that the sweet scents, which would make most other vampires go into a blood-crazed frenzy, no longer bothered her. Not in the least. She could work in a hospital with blood all around her and completely ignore the burn that erupted in her throat. Although the burn didn't really ignite that strongly anymore, it was much more subtle than it had been years before, and for that she was beyond grateful.

Max came over to Isabella and wrapped his pale arms around her. "I will miss you, Isabella."

She bit her lip as she pulled away. "I know, Max, I will miss both of you immensely."

"Why don't you stay?" Azria asked, tucking a strand of her long jet black hair behind her ear.

Isabella looked down. "You know I love you both so much. I really do. You two are my best friends; you're my family. But I can't be around too long with the diet you keep."

Max looked guilty. "I'm sorry, Isabella. We've tried, you know that."

She released a large breath of unneeded air. "I do know that," Isabella said proudly. "But you were unable to keep hold of it, and I can't handle the scent of human blood. It's nearly revolting to me now. Plus my conscience cannot bare it. Besides, it is time that I move on and settle down for a few years."

Azria and Max had tried the "vegetarian" diet, and they succeeded for a year and a half. But one day, while Max had been hunting out in the woods, there were two hikers and one of them had fallen and cut themselves. The alluring smell of the blood called to Max and he could not restrain himself. He had killed the both of them. To this day, Max is unable to overcome the guilt he feels. He ended up giving up on the vegetarian diet, and since he did, Azria, being his mate, followed behind him. Isabella was okay with it, because she knew it was hard and that they had at least done their best to try.

"I suppose," said Max.

Isabella smirked and mussed up Max's light brown hair, attempting to lighten things up.

"Hey!" he protested. Isabella gave him a look that was so innocent that he could not help but laugh. The depressing conversation from moments ago already forgotten.

After a few minutes of messing around with Max and Azria, Isabella finally stopped.

"I best be on my way," she said.

"I miss you already," Azria said sadly. Max nodded his head in agreement.

"I'll miss you terribly," Isabella said to them. "And yes I'll make sure to visit as soon as I possibly can. I love you."

"We love you, too," said Max.

They each hugged Isabella once more and then said their goodbyes.

"Goodbye," Isabella waved as she walked toward her car, a sleek midnight blue Ferrari F430. She tossed her bags lightly into the back seat of the car and sat in the drivers seat. The car purred to life softly and she revved the engine, thoroughly enjoying the sounds it emitted. With one last glance and wave, Isabella threw the car into drive and sped out and away from her friends.

Isabella had lived on her own from 1999 until 2002. Then, she had tracked down Max and Azria and lived with them for three years. She was now ready to go out on her own again. She would enroll into high school for what felt like the millionth time for her and go through a couple of years of school before she would move away from which ever city she was in, claiming to leave to "follow in her deceased mother's footsteps." Afterwards she would most likely just move to another small, nearly sunless town and redo high school yet again.

This time, she was headed to a very small, very rainy town in Washington called Forks. It was under a near-constant cloud cover and rained the majority of the time. Another plus was that there was plenty of wildlife within it's thick and lush green forests.

Isabella flew down the highway at extreme speeds, weaving in and out of traffic with ease that humans couldn't possibly possess. Her vampire reflexes came in very handy when driving. Vampires ran faster than anything, and it wasn't only when they were running on foot that they felt the strong urge to be going as fast as possible. Most vampires were nomads, or living in very small covens of two or three vampires, so the majority of them didn't even bother to purchase any vehicles as they would pretty much be useless. Vampires could outrun a car going at top speed any day. They could outrun cars going beyond the speeds deemed legal.

It didn't take very long for Isabella to reach her destination, Forks. She had driven from Canada, where Azria and Max had been residing and arrived in Forks in only a very short few hours. It wasn't hard considering the outrageous speed that she had been going nearly the entire time, only slowing down to the speed limit when nearing any police cars. Her amazing eyesight could detect police vehicles, whether or not they were ghost cars, so it was next to impossible for her to actually be caught driving at such high speeds.

As she pulled her expensive car into the driveway of her new home, she took in the beauty of the exterior of the house. Although she could have very easily chosen an extremely large house, she had instead opted for a decently sized house. It would only be her living there, after all, and she would have no use for a kitchen or multiple bathrooms. It was a brand new, recently built home and painted completely white. The exterior had a large amount of huge windows, revealing a fair deal of the interior. It was a gorgeous house. She knew that they would be useless to her, but still the house was fully stocked with all brand new, stainless steel appliances. It was also fully furnished with beautiful, expensive couches and tables littered around the living room. The house contained one master bedroom with ensuite bath, which would be Isabella's, three other bedrooms and two baths.

She stepped out of her vehicle and grabbed her bags, running with the speed and grace of a vampire up to the door and opening it quickly with a small, silver key. She went inside the home and looked around in awe and fascination. The walls of the foyer and living room were a creamy white colour, while the kitchen held a lovely cinnamon brown on it's walls. Isabella made her way lithely up the curved staircase and into her master bedroom. It was absolutely breathtaking and perfect for her. The walls were painted with a cobalt blue, and the room held silver and white accents all around. The bed was wrapped in a puffy-looking bedspread that was ivory white with silver swirly designs on it. Even though the bed was unnecessary for her, as she was a vampire and could not sleep no matter how badly she wanted to, she felt the strong urge to lay down and revel in the softness of the bed.

She decided against her want for the moment and instead began unpacking her items at human speed. She was in no rush, and if she were to go at her real speed, then it would take her less than one minute to have everything in it's place and she currently wanted to occupy herself with something. There was but a few more hours until she would begin to attend classes at Forks High School as a junior.

Her story this time around was that her parents had died tragically in a house fire the previous year and she was left with all of their belongings and money. Since she had no other family left, as neither of her parents had any siblings and her grandparents had all passed away long before, there was no one to take her in. She also wanted to move away from her previous home in Phoenix, Arizona — which of course was a lie as she was a vampire and could not go out in the sun without the risk of exposing herself and the rest of her race — so she packed up all of her items and moved to the dreary town of Forks, claiming to want to start fresh and clean, leaving behind the memories that haunted her so.

Isabella finished unpacking all of her belongings and glanced at the analog clock hung upon her bedroom wall. Seeing that it was only 4:30 in the morning, she decided that she would read her favorite book, _Pride and Prejudice_, for what had to be more than the one hundredth time. She would begin to get herself ready for a new day at Forks High at 6AM.

When 6 o'clock rolled around, Isabella sighed and placed her book face-down upon her beside table. She had nearly finished the book already, with only one and a half chapters left. With her vampire speed, it was not hard to read a book quickly; she could accomplish reading a three hundred page novel in ten minutes, tops, if she wished to. But she wanted to savor her favorite book, so instead, she did her best to read at a human speed. That, apparently, did not work out in her favor.

She pulled herself up and off of her soft plush bed and glided into the bathroom to take a shower. After going through her regular shower routine — using her strawberry and vanilla scented shampoo — she hopped out and dried herself off. She then wrapped another towel around her hair and walked into her bedroom and straight to her closet. She chose a long, cashmere, pearl grey, fitted sweaterdress paired with black pumps. Once she was dressed and satisfied with her outfit, she went into the bathroom to do her hair. She took the towel off her head and then blew her hair dry. She left it natural, leaving lovely loose curls at the bottom of her long dark hair. Isabella didn't bother applying any make-up; her long and thick black eyelashes made her eyes look as if they were already perfectly coated with eyeliner and mascara, but you could tell it was natural. She donned her knee-length black trench coat before picking up her black purse and heading out the door. She didn't bother to look at herself in the mirror before leaving. It would be pointless, as she already knew that she would look beautiful — it was part of being a vampire.

Her deep blue Ferrari purred to life and she pulled out of the driveway in reverse, then gunned it down the small, uncrowded streets of Forks.

Isabella had no troubles at all in finding the high school. It was a collection of small buildings made up of boring maroon-coloured bricks. It doesn't look all that much like a school, Isabella mused to herself. But the sign that declared it to be Forks High was a dead giveaway. After parking her expensive car in front of the office, she headed inside to gather her papers.

A plump-looking, red-haired woman sat behind the white desk wearing a purple shirt and green skirt. It was a disturbing combination, but her friendly smile was enough to distract people from her unfashionable clothing. As Isabella walked up to the desk, the woman glanced up at her. She froze in her seat and swallowed hard as her heart began to accelerate.

"Hello," Isabella's voice rang out, shimmering like a symphony. She glanced at the nameplate perched upon the desk, "Mrs. Cope. My name is Isabella Swan, I'm here to get my schedule."

Mrs. Cope continued to stare at Isabella in awe, fascination, and fear. A moment later, she snapped out of it and cleared her throat. "Oh, uh, I'm sorry, dear, what was it that you were asking?"

This was nothing unusual for Isabella. She was used to it after having been a vampire for so long now. But still, she couldn't stop herself from wishing that she had the power of invisibility sometimes. It would be nice for her to be able to hide herself from others instead of being gawked at constantly, even if she had learned to embrace her unnatural, inhuman beauty.

"My schedule, please. I'm Isabella Swan."

"Ah, yes, of course, of course," she muttered as she stood up. She walked back to a large pile of papers and looked through them for a minute before smiling victoriously and muttering _ah ha_ to herself as she found the documents she was looking for. She sauntered back over to the desk and placed a few sheets of paper on top. "This is your schedule, a map of the school and a sheet you must have each of your teachers sign; please return it at the end of the day." She handed Isabella three pieces of paper; one white, one yellow, and one blue. Giving Isabella a warm and friendly smile, she said, "Welcome to Forks High. I hope you enjoy your first day."

"Thank you," Isabella said sweetly, swiftly exiting the office.

Isabella looked over her schedule and the map once and had immediately memorized them both. Vampire memory does come in handy, Isabella thought idly. The memory that a vampire has is amazing, they memorize instantly and can have multiple things going on in their minds at the same time and be completely unaffected by it. Their brains can work through problems such as harsh, complex math equations very quickly and they can have answers in milliseconds.

After placing her three sheets of paper in her purse, Isabella climbed into her car and drove over to the student lot, parking in a free space as far away from other vehicles as she could. She was hoping that if her car was not all that close to others, then she would have an easier time blending in. Luck was not on her side today, because as soon as she was out of her extravagant Ferrari, she heard many gasps. People took in her beautiful looks and expensive car as Isabella strode through them, feigning oblivion to the obvious stares and whispers following her every step. She felt the eyes burning holes through her coming from each and every direction, but pretended that she didn't notice them as she gracefully sauntered into the school.

First period for Isabella was English with Mr. Mason. It went by quickly with her in a small classroom stuffed with teenagers that constantly stared at her, though she never made eye contact with even one person. The only time she had spoken was when she had to have her teacher sign a slip of paper, and even then she did not look him in the eye. But that did not stop him from openly ogling her for nearly two minutes. English had been Isabella's favorite subject since she can remember. Although her memories of her human life had dulled quite a bit, she was sure that even as a human it was her favorite subject. She had already read everything on the reading list at least ten times. Overall, it was fairly basic: Brontë, Shakespeare and Faulkner. It made class for Isabella all the more boring. As the teacher droned on, she had zoned out, keeping only a small part of her mind open in case she were to be called upon.

A few brave souls had attempted to speak to Isabella, but they all failed. She had simply ignored them or glared at them, making them back off. The first to try had been a gangly boy with acne and oily black hair, who had introduced himself as Eric before Isabella had glared at him, then agilely sauntered off, leaving the boy speechless and embarrassed.

The rest of the morning passed in the same fashion. The only problem she encountered was with her Trigonometry teacher, Mr. Varner, who had made her stand in front of the class and introduce herself. She was fine with it, but she had preferred to stay to herself rather than be hounded by males and females alike, which she knew would happen as soon as they heard her dazzling voice. For some reason the humans in Forks didn't seem to have instincts as strong as others when it came to vampires, as they didn't try to avoid her like she was the plague, but they should have.

The next to try her luck at speaking to Isabella was a short girl with light brown hair who, as far as she could tell, was named Jessica and had a knack for continuously blabbering on for long periods of time without stopping. Isabella had given her a death glare and she had quickly scrambled away. She was also a gossiper as Isabella had found out when she overheard — with her vampire senses — Jessica say to a sneering blonde named Lauren that Isabella was a "freak who didn't speak." There was also two other boys named Mike and Tyler who had attempted to talk to Isabella. The same thing happened for them; Isabella sent them each a death glare and they had nearly ran away in their haste to distance themselves from her.

When lunch time rolled around, Isabella picked up her items and sauntered out of the classroom. She strode at a graceful human pace toward the building clearly marked CAFETERIA with her head held high and her eyes straight forward, not connecting with anyone else's. As she was about to entire the cafeteria, she was stopped by a very thin, very short girl with chin length black hair.

"Do I know you?" the girl's sweet, soprano voice asked. Her dark grey eyes widened a little.

"Excuse me?" Isabella said, perplexed.

"Oh, sorry, my name is Alice Cullen. This may sound weird, but I feel as if I know you...and I'm sure that I've seen you somewhere before."

A light breeze picked up, wafting Alice's scent toward Isabella. She recognized the smell and her mind immediately went back to nine years ago when she had murdered her first, and only, human beings. Although it was to protect the lives of five innocent children, so she felt that it was completely justified.

She knew now why this Alice recognized her.

Alice, or Mary-Alice as Isabella recalled her name being, was one of the children that she had rescued that night from those horrid men. Isabella nearly smiled as she remembered that _she_ had been the first to suggest and refer to Mary-Alice as just Alice. She had kept going by Alice all of these years and that made Isabella's dead heart flutter the slightest bit. She felt close to Alice. As if she were the little sister she had never had. But she pushed all of those new, familial feelings aside and focused on not revealing anything that would put her and her secret in danger.

"I'm terribly sorry, Alice, but you must have me mistaken with another."

Her delicate eyebrows furrowed. "No, I'm sure it's you."

Isabella felt a tinge of anger coming on. Why wouldn't this tiny girl just drop it and leave her alone?

"Well, Alice, I have never seen you in my life. Now I must go to lunch. It was a pleasure meeting you," Isabella said tersely, spinning around and gliding off into the cafeteria with extreme grace.

The moment Isabella walked into the cafeteria, everything went silent and all eyes were locked on her beautiful, curved form as she agilely walked to the food counter and purchased items that she knew she would never consume. She ignored the eyes following her as she lead herself over to an empty table in the furthest corner of the room, as far away from the many prying eyes that should could be.

Her topaz eyes roamed the cafeteria as she sat at a table alone. She passed table after table with her wandering eyes. She heard her name being murmured at a table and her eyes immediately flicked back to that table.

There were five teenagers occupying it. One of them was Alice. She was sitting beside a tall, lean boy with honey-blond hair and ice blue eyes. Beside him sat a tall, leggy blonde with violet-blue eyes and a decently curved — for a human — body. She was the female version of the blond boy. There was a muscular arm draped over her shoulder, belonging to a seemingly tall and very muscular boy with hazel brown eyes and short curly dark brown hair. In the final seat sat a tall, lanky boy with muscles visible through his tight fitting tee. He had dishevelled bronze hair and emerald green eyes.

Isabella was sure that they were all the ones she had rescued years ago. But she had to catch their scents before she could verify her assumption. They did look similar to the ones she had saved, but they had only been eight years old at the time. Now they were in their late teens.

She didn't bother to listen in on their conversation, as she knew that the bell signalling the end of lunch would soon ring. She decided to head off to her next class early. She stood up lithely and took her trench coat off, figuring it may look strange if she were to keep it on any longer. She had taken it off in her first classes, but put it back on as she stepped out into the rain again. After taking her coat off, Isabella folded it neatly and placed it into her purse. She then gathered up her tray of untouched food and discarded it in the trash. When that was done, Isabella gracefully exited the cafeteria and headed toward her Biology II class.

* * *

**A/N: I'm basing the timeline off of _Twilight_, not the current date, so it's not set in 2010 — almost 2011, but it's closer to the dates it was set as in the books. Not exactly, but close enough for me. Also, I chose the chapter song _Beautiful Liar_ because of two reasons. One being that I was listening to the song while writing this chapter, and the other being that Bella is a vampire, so she's beautiful, and then she's obviously lying to the Cullens and stuff...hence beautiful liar. I know that personally I prefer stories that _aren't _written in third person, but I find it much easier than writing in Bella's POV, or even Edward's. I dunno why. Also, in case you have yet to realize, Bella will be the only vampire out of the main characters...for now, at least. I haven't even decided where this story is going, if anywhere, so yeah...just bare with me for now. Another thing, she arrives in Forks on January 17th, but starts school on the 18th. Oh, and I have to go edit the first chapter a teeny bit, but, just so you don't have to go back and read, all I'm doing is adjusting her age. I redid the math and figured out that she's supposed to be _one hundred and eighty-four_ in the first chapter, not "one hundred and sixty-eight." Also, for this chapter she is _one hundred and ninety-three_. Personally, I'm not completely happy with this chapter, but I wanted to get it up, so...should I continue writing this story, or is it a bust?**

**I would absolutely adore you if you were to give me some suggestions as to where I should take this story. What should happen? How should it happen? Just give me any sorts of ideas or suggestions that you can and I will love you forever.**

**Thank you to those who reviewed on the first chapter, you're positivity encourages me to continue writing.**

**I don't want to be one of those "review or else I won't upload anymore" type of authors, but I really would love some reviews...it motivates me. Anyways, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter.**

**Please read and review!**


	3. Animal I Have Become

**Disclaimer: I do not own _Twilight_, nor do I own any of it's characters. It all belongs to Stephenie Meyer.**

* * *

**Alone**

**Chapter 3: Animal I Have Become**

"_So what if you can see the darkest side of me?_

_No one will ever change this animal I have become_

_Help me believe it's not the real me_

_Somebody help me tame this animal_"

_Animal I Have Become_ by Three Days Grace

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Finding the Biology room was no problem for Isabella. She had already memorized the map of the school with one simple glance, so she knew the school's layout like the back of her hand. Her photographic vampire memory only served to enhance that vast knowledge.

She gracefully strode in the door, into the classroom and up to the teacher's desk.

"Hello," she greeted the balding man politely. "I'm Isabella Swan. I'm supposed to have my teachers sign this." She softly put her hand out and offered him the sheet.

He took it and signed it. "Here you go," he said, giving the sheet back to her. "You will be sitting next to Mr. Cullen, over there." He pointed to a lab table.

She wasn't sure which "Mr. Cullen" would be her lab partner, but she knew it was either the big one, the lean one, or the one with messy hair.

Way to state the obvious Isabella, she thought to herself, slightly annoyed.

She sat down in the seat she was told to, and took out her items. The bell rang at that moment, alerting other students that it was time to get to class.

A few minutes later, the Cullen boy with the tousled hair walked through the door. Isabella automatically assumed that he would be her lab partner, as she was sure that Mr. Banner would have let her know at least a first name if there had been multiple Cullen boys in that specific class.

She easily recalled him from nine years ago. He didn't look all that much different, even to her sharp eyes. He still had the same strangely colored hair, albeit longer and messier, and sparkling emerald eyes. He was taller now, though that was a given, with a very nice build, a strong jaw and high cheekbones.

He had definitely grown up quite nicely, Isabella thought. She was somewhat confused at her own thoughts. She had never even taken notice in the beauty of men before. Not even the vampire men that had been after her heart for decades. The very handsome vampire men at that.

She shrugged it off for the time being, because in that moment, Mr. Cullen approached the lab table, causing wave after wave of his delicious scent to blow toward Isabella.

She froze.

His scent was the most intoxicating thing she had ever smelt in her nearly two hundred year existence. It was a mixture of lavender, honey and, oddly enough, sunshine. It was the strangest scent she had ever smelt, but it was still the one that got the burn in her throat erupting like never before.

It was a lot stronger than she had experienced in many, many years — over a century and a half. She knew that if she hadn't been immune — or at least as immune as a vampire could get — to the appeal of human blood, that the handsome young boy beside her wouldn't even feel the pain before he was dead. Stripped of his life just to supply fuel for her soulless existence.

Many humans — possibly even vampires — assumed that simply because vampires killed humans and drank their blood, that they were all evil and soulless. Isabella didn't necessarily believe that she had no soul. She was sure that souls were in everyone, even though some were darker and more tainted than others. She also trusted that they were salvageable and redeemable if someone had done something horrific in their lives to cause their souls to turn black.

Isabella knew that she could resist the temptation, the call of his blood. But that didn't stop her sick, twisted mind from conjuring up ideas and ways to lure this boy unknowingly to his death. All Isabella had to do was politely ask him to walk her to her next class with one of her dazzling smiles and he would be hooked. From there, it would play out very nicely; she would lead him outside — he being completely oblivious — and then she would pounce on him, drinking the sweet nectar that was his blood. She would make it quick and painless for him. It was the least she could do.

Isabella could feel as her eyes transformed from the light, butterscotch they were into a dark ocher. She was able to control herself before they could go any darker. She could not possibly imagine how frightened the boy would be if he were to gaze into her onyx eyes. She would feel incredibly guilty if that were the case.

She didn't know why his scent was so very appealing to her. Nine years ago, it had been fine, just as his siblings and any other humans scent. Now, simply one sniff of the smell was enough to drive her vampire instincts wild and have venom pouring into her mouth, preparing her for the hunt. Isabella knew that humans scents strengthened with time, and then once they hit a certain elderly age, it faded more and more. But she had never encountered a scent that was so average, and then suddenly, a few years later, it is very amplified, causing her this much distress.

The boy turned to Isabella and introduced himself in a soft voice, "Hello. I'm Edward Cullen."

She did not acknowledge him at all, simply continuing to stare straight ahead at the front of the classroom and pretending as if he was not even beside her. She had to ignore him for her to be able to carefully ignore the sweet smell of his blood. If she were to speak, she would run out of the oxygen that she had inhaled quickly as he had strode toward the lab table. Then, she would have no choice but to suck in another huge breath and if that were to happen, she would also breathe in more of his scent, and that could cause a problem for her. It would create an even stronger burn in her throat, and although she had had worse when she was a newborn, she hadn't had a burn this bad in over a century and a half; her bloodlust wasn't even all that strong when she was a newborn.

She had no choice but to ignore the young boy beside her. When he attempted to speak to her once more, she turned to him and glared the deadliest glare she could muster. He had quickly turned away from her, not bothering to try speaking to her again. She couldn't help but feel the tiniest bit of guilt. But she was doing this for his own good — his own _life_.

The class dragged on for seemingly hours upon hours. Isabella's eyes were softening a bit, but she began to get more uneasy as time moved forward, with being unable to breathe in fresh, unnecessary air. Although she had no need for the oxygen, it happened to be extremely uncomfortable, even for vampires, to go without breathing. It felt awkward and wrong. It wasn't how humans were born, nor was it how vampires were made to be. Whether or not vampires physically _needed_ the air — which they did not — it didn't change the unsettling feeling it had on them to go without it.

Isabella was up and out of her seat, her books in her arms, moments before the bell ending class even rang. She nearly ran out of the classroom at an inhuman speed in her haste to get away from the tantalizing scent of the innocent boy.

She only had one class left, Gym, which she wasn't looking forward to anyway, since she is unable to use her full speed and strength. If she did, then the humans would very clearly see that she was not a human. Since there was only one more period until the end of the day, she decided that she would simply head home and then go out hunting. She couldn't possibly risk going back and finding out that boy was in her Gym class, too. If that were the case, there would be likely _no_ possibility of his survival.

So instead of going to class, Isabella went straight to the office after leaving the Biology room. She entered the room and went up to the desk with Mrs. Cope behind it. She took a deep breath of the air, untainted by the delicious scent of the boy, then spoke.

"Hello again, Mrs. Cope," she said extra sweetly — much more sugary than she had been that morning.

Once again, the lady's heartbeat stuttered and sped up. Isabella expected nothing less.

"Oh, hello there, dear. W-what can I help you with, Isabella?" Mrs. Cope asked.

Carefully, as not to show her razor-sharp teeth and frighten the woman, Isabella smiled sweetly, effectively dazzling her. "I'm not feeling too well, so I was hoping that I could be excused for last period."

She didn't even hesitate with her reply, "Of course, dear. I simply need to know which class it is, and the name of your teacher."

"Gym with Coach Clapp."

Mrs. Cope turned to her computer — an ancient looking thing — and typed away, humming to herself lightly. When she was done, she faced Isabella again.

"All done, sweetie. You are officially excused from Gym."

"Thank you so much, Mrs. Cope." With a final sugary-sweet smile, Isabella quickly left the office and headed to her car.

She clambered into her vehicle and sat there for a moment, then sighed. What to do, what to do? she wondered to herself. An idea suddenly popped itself into her mind. She would obviously need to go hunting, so she decided that Alaska would be a nice place to go. While she is in Alaska, she could visit some of her other friends — another bunch of "vegetarian" vampires. They lived in Denali, and Isabella hadn't visited them in quite sometime. They were a family, though not biologically related. Aside from Max and Azria, the Denali clan had to be the closest to family that Isabella had.

It had to have been over twenty years since she had last seen them, so she was really looking forward to seeing them again. She started her car engine and zoomed out of the parking lot.

As she drove down the highway at breakneck speeds, she realized that she should have asked Mrs. Cope if she could change her Biology class. She nearly smacked herself at her own idiocy, but decided that she would deal with that when she was back. On the duration of her trip, she would focus solely on hunting and seeing her friends, forgetting the alluring scent of the boy.

Eventually, she pulled up to the home of the Denali clan. They, like a lot of other vampires that stayed in one place for any amount of time — though there weren't many vampires like that — enjoyed living an expensive, extravagant lifestyle. Isabella couldn't blame them, she was quite the same with her designer clothing and expensive cars.

The Denali's house was absolutely gorgeous. It was up high, away from civilization for easy privacy, and obviously cost a large sum of money. It was huge, and painted a pretty soft brown with lovely white pillars around and quite a few windows. The sight from the windows was even more gorgeous than the house itself, being that you could see a lake and the snow covered mountains behind it. It was especially beautiful when the sun came out, alighting the snow with colorful glitter and sparkling the water.

Isabella hopped out of her car with a grin on her face. The scent of the boy pushed to the furthest corner of her mind. She was beyond excited to see the ones that she often referred to as her family.

Before Isabella could go any further, she was tackled to the ground. She giggled as she wrapped her arms around the pale being hugging her.

"Hello Tanya," she greeted, unlocking her arms and prying the vampire off of her, then standing up with her.

"Baby Bell," the vampire, Tanya, flashed Isabella a huge, excited grin.

Isabella rolled her eyes at the nickname. All of the Denali coven had been changed well before Isabella was even born, so they figured that gave them the right to treat her as a baby, the youngest of the family. She didn't really mind all that much, but she would prefer them to treat her with a little bit more respect and let her keep some of her dignity — not that they didn't respect her, because they did. She may have been younger than them, but she certainly wasn't any less wise, intelligent, or powerful.

Isabella looked at her friend. She hadn't changed a bit, though that was obviously expected seeing as vampires do not age. Tanya was absolutely breathtaking with her long, strawberry blonde curls. Her wide, golden eyes stood out against her marble white skin. She looked to be in her early twenties, probably changed when she was only twenty-one or twenty-two, though she could pass for younger or older if she wished. She was very beautiful and completely irresistible to men. Her playful personality only added to her already amazing traits, along with her strong loyalty and insightfulness.

Tanya's smile never faltered as she looped her arm through Isabella's and practically skipped inside the house, dragging Isabella along with her.

"Isabella," a beautiful woman said, her voice heavy with Spanish accent. "Ha sido demasiado tiempo. ¿Cómo has estado, querida."

"Sí, demasiado tiempo. He sido bastante grande, y usted mismo?" she replied in flawless Spanish.

"Ah, I've been alright, significantly better now that you are here," she said, embracing Isabella in her arms. Carmen was beautiful, of course, with her black hair brightening her golden eyes, and a slight tint of olive in her chalky complexion. She was a very gentle, kind, and maternal person.

Although she would never admit it, Isabella did feel as if the Denali's were her family, but she had always felt like she didn't completely belong with them, that there was somewhere else out there that was simply waiting for her to arrive. People out there who were _meant_ to be her family. She longed for whomever those people were.

As Isabella pulled back from Carmen, she walked over to a tall, dark-haired man with the same skin tone and eyes as Carmen.

"Eleazar," Isabella breathed with a smile on her beautiful face. Eleazar hugged Isabella tightly. He was Carmen's husband and mate and over all a very gentle man. He and Carmen had been together for centuries, and were both originally from different places in Spain.

The two of them exchanged quiet pleasantries before releasing one another. Pulling back from the hug, Isabella was soon tightly embraced by yet another vampire.

"Bella!" Kate shouted happily, hugging the unneeded breath out of her.

"Kate!" Bella replied ecstatically. Carmen and Eleazar were the only ones of the Denali family that refused to refer to Isabella as Bella, which she would prefer. She hadn't bothered to correct any humans at school, because she didn't honestly care to speak to any of them. Max and Azria usually alternated between what they called her.

After embracing very tightly for a few minutes, the vampire girls released each other, grinning. They were the closest of all the Denali's, though Bella was quite close to Kate's mate, Garrett, who Bella had introduced to the Denali coven years ago. He had wanted to attempt at vegetarianism because he had an extremely adventurous, curious attitude and loved to try new things.

"Bella," Garrett greeted, smiling and opening his arms for a hug. After embracing, Bella pulled away and looked at him. Garrett was tall and rangy with eager golden eyes and long sandy hair that he constantly kept tied back with a leather thong. Bella remembered when those eyes used to be eager ruby. She grinned when she saw how great things had turned out for them.

In 1825, Bella had been out, running in the woods of Phoenix, Arizona, stopping for a hunt on her way to her destination, when she ran into Garrett. Garrett was a mess when she first saw him; his clothes were tattered and his hair unruly. He was covered in dried mud.

Bella and Garrett had both been surprised when they saw one another and were a bit defensive — not abnormal, considering their vampire nature and instincts.

While it was a given that Bella was much more civilized than other vampires who fed on humans, Garrett included, it felt strange to Bella when she felt comfortable around him. Not too comfortable, but more comfortable than she had been around newcomers nonetheless. Regardless of their original defensive stances, there was no fight, and they were quick to become great friends.

Bella loved how Garrett spoke what was on his mind and didn't care about what others thought. Garrett, on the other hand, felt very respectful and awed toward Bella for her being so young and yet so very, shockingly wise. She was also a surprisingly skilled fighter, even at her age of only thirteen — vampire — years at the time, and that, to Garrett, was highly impressive.

Bella explained herself to him; why she was in a sunny place, why her eyes were gold. Garrett had been extremely intrigued when Bella mentioned her diet of animal blood. And Garrett, given his adventurous nature, had been up for a self-made challenge. He decided that he would test himself and see if he was able to sustain on only animal blood, and if so, how long he could last. He was a bit cocky, assuming that he would be successful in his challenge, but Bella didn't care about that.

Garrett explained himself to Bella, as well. He was born sometime in 1756, he wasn't sure of the exact date. From what he knew, he was about twenty-three when he was changed, give or take a couple of months, and that happened in 1779. He couldn't remember too much about his change; how it happened, why, or by who. He was a nomad, and had been all of his vampire life. He hadn't met too many other vampires throughout his years, and it had been many years since when Bella came along. He was actually sort of excited to see another vampire — it had been far too long since he had seen another.

Garrett asked to join Bella for a while, but unfortunately, Bella wasn't too interested in company at the time, so she had mentioned the Denali clan. Garrett was a little hurt that she didn't want to be around him, but she had assured him that it wasn't him — she merely wanted some time to herself.

There wasn't much more to Garrett than that. He was an easy-going, laid-back man. Which is why when he went to Denali and eventually told Kate, "_I will follow you anywhere, woman,_" Bella wasn't the slightest bit shocked. Sure, she had her small doubts, but she had seen how perfect he would be for her friend, and so she was absolutely ecstatic when she got the call that they were together, and even happier when she received an invitation to their wedding. Kate and Garrett were literally _perfect_ for one another. They were soulmates; they completed each other. Their relationship didn't fit along the lines of 'opposites attract' because they weren't even close to opposites, they were identical with their attitudes.

Both Kate and Garrett were brave beyond belief, willing to risk themselves, and not afraid to face death. They were both very into rolling their eyes and being sarcastic and witty. Both of them were adventurous and curious. They were a match made in heaven.

This, the Denali clan, was Bella's family. Of course she had Azria and Max, and while she was very close to the two of them, she had a slightly stronger bond with the Denali's due to their diet being that of animal blood, rather than human. Tanya was the head of the coven, while Kate had been created by the same woman as Tanya, so they were like sisters. Eleazar and Carmen joined the coven after that, and then Garrett was introduced to them and fit in perfectly.

Tanya and Kate used to have another sister named Irina. However, when her mate Laurent was killed by a pack of werewolves, she couldn't handle the despair and loneliness. She had gone to the Volturi and exposed herself in front of humans so that the Volturi would come after her and punish her for her irresponsibility. The punishment being death. Her scheme worked and she was soon relieved of her unhappiness.

But Kate and Tanya had mourned for their sisters death. Even though she was not related to them by blood, they all had had the same woman's venom running through their bodies during their transformations. And while Kate, having Garrett, completely understood why Irina provoked the Volturi into killing her when Laurent died, Tanya did not. Because Tanya was mateless, she didn't quite grasp the meaning and depth of the bond that mated vampires shared. But Kate knew that if it had been Garrett who was killed by a pack of werewolves — or any way, really — she would have done the same as Irina in a human heartbeat. Bella didn't understand either, because she had no mate, but she certainly didn't blame Irina. She had a feeling that if she had a mate, she would do it, too.

Bella stayed with the Denali family for two weeks, hunting and simply enjoying their company, before she decided that she had skipped too much school. She needed to either return to Forks and face her demons, or call the school like a coward and let them know that she would not be returning.

And for some reason, though she wanted to take the cowards way and protect the Cullen boy, she could not help but feel like she was supposed to be in Forks, that she had to return.

So instead of calling the school, she overhunted on her last day in Denali.

After some heartfelt goodbyes and many hugs from her family, she grinned at all of them

"I'll be sure to visit soon," Bella said, shouting for emphasis. She didn't need to as they all had enhanced, vampire hearing, but she wanted to make sure they knew she was serious.

She hopped into her Ferrari and sped off down the road.

Bella was going back to Forks.

* * *

**A/N: So, uh, yeah... I was originally pretty disappointed in myself for this chapter, but that was when I had only written like a thousand words. The part that is explaining Edward's blood...yeah, that had me ashamed of myself. But I'm hoping that I redeemed myself in the end! I literally wrote all of this (well, everything after when Bella leaves the Biology room) in one day; okay, like two hours. Because I had been working on studying for exams and I wanted to get at least one chapter in before my exams start - thank God I only have two this semester - I decided I may as well write my ass off until the chapter was completed. I don't like where I ended it, but oh well, suck it up - you're lucky I uploaded one at all! :) (kidding, of course).**

**Pretty please do not hate me for keeping the extreme scent thing, 'cause I like Bella being a little bit bitchy and ignoring Edward. I hate how in _Twilight_ she like pines after him, and it's like he's the only thing in the world (although I admit that I'm Team Edward, and I adore their relationship), but shes like 'Edward this', and 'Edward that'. Well I say she needs to grow a pair and gain some confidence and independence, eh?**

**Well, anyway, bye-bye Isabella, hell_ooo_ Bella. (Yes, I changed it, it is no longer "Isabella" it is now, officially, "Bella"). And yes, ha ha, Laurent is dead. Irina is dead. Garrett is already with Kate - _thank you, Bella!_**

**Comments, reviews, suggestions and ideas are all _very_ welcome. If you think you know where I should go with this story, feel free to let me know, I won't hate. Oh, and please, please, _please_ let me know if you think that I am going downhill with this story, because if I am, I may just abandon it (yeah, I know, it's like my first multiple-chapter story, but eh, if it's bad, I don't want to continue wasting my time writing something that's merely crap), so please let me know. Also, I'd like to thank everyone who reviewed on the last chapter.**

**Ah, and in case anyone was wondering, here are the Spanish translations (err, I _hope_ they're right):**

**Ha sido demasiado tiempo. ¿Cómo has estado, querida - _It's been too long. How have you been, dear?_**

**Sí, demasiado tiempo. He sido bastante grande, y usted mismo? - _Yes, too long. I've been pretty great, and yourself?_**

**Please read and review!**


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